Chief Justice John Roberts attends President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress at the US Capitol on March 4, 2025. Win McNamee/Pool/Reuters

In a case where Chief Justice John Roberts stares down a president’s signature agenda item, the decisions can hinge on what Roberts sees as a tax.

That’s what happened with the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, when Roberts shocked conservatives and Republicans by upholding the law and its since-repealed requirement that people must pay a fine, or a tax, if they did not buy health insurance.

Now Roberts is faced with Trump’s tariffs, which are obviously a tax, but which the president says are a tool.

Unwinding the tariffs, Trump warned in a wee-hours social media post Tuesday, could cost the government trillions of dollars.

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